Organisers of Broiler’s concert at Oslo’s Unity Arena have hailed “a big day for Norwegian music” after the electronic music duo made history by selling out the 25,000-cap show in less than eight minutes.

Broiler performed at the venue on 1 March in a gig staged by Oslo and Fredrikstad-based independent music management, record label and promoter Sky Agency.

The agency’s co-founder Trond Opsahl has represented the Drammen-hailing pair since the early 2010s, growing the act from club shows to festival headliners.

“We put a tour on sale last year and sold out around Norway,” Opsahl tells IQ. “Then we sold out Oslo Spektrum – 10,000 tickets – so we decided to put on a big show in Unity Arena and they sold 25,000 tickets in less than eight minutes.

“It was a big day for Norwegian music. No domestic artist had completely sold out the venue before and even international artists aren’t used to selling it out – especially not in eight minutes. We were hoping for it, of course, but we can’t say that we expected it.”

A record producer and DJ duo comprising Mikkel Christiansen and Simen Auke, Broiler achieved international recognition with their 2014 track Wild Eyes and 2015 remix of the Imagine Dragons hit, Shots. They have also played slots at prestigious European festivals such as Belgium’s Tomorrowland and Sweden’s Summerburst.

“Broiler have been around for a long time and mean a lot to their generation, but we can also see that we are building new fans”

“In the last few years, we’ve focused on the Norwegian market and have released local language music,” explains Opsahl. “Broiler have been around for a long time and mean a lot to their generation, but we can also see that we are building new fans. Their audience is from 16 to 30-plus, and they deliver an amazing live show. The venue even said that it was one of the most successful events they held.

“We’re taking some time to digest and smile about what was basically a dream come true, but we want to keep exploring opportunities. After the show, quite a few promoters have been reaching out to us about wanting to work with the act, and now we’re just lining up what we should do outside of Norway as well, so it’s pretty exciting.”

Opsahl, who works alongside former Live Nation and Global Live touring executive Sam Bush at Sky Agency, also shares his high hopes for another of their clients, rising Norwegian hip-hop trio Roc Boyz.

“They are really popular in Sweden and Norway and are now selling out big club shows,” he says. “We have quite a few festival plays this summer, both in Sweden and Norway, so they’re our next big project.”

Sky Agency also promotes and co-promotes domestic festivals such as Stavern, Idyll, Festningen, Utopia, Feelings, Rakettnatt, Sommerfest and Bykalas.

“I think the Norwegian market is picking a little bit up,” adds Opsahl. “It’s still a tough market for festivals, but people are definitely interested in seeing shows.”

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AEG Presents is expanding to Norway with a new Oslo office led by Friction and Atomic Soul Booking founder Peer Osmundsvaag.

Osmundsvaag, who brings 35 years of live entertainment and event promotion experience to the company, was a founding partner of All Things Live, serving a five-year-stint with the Nordic live entertainment giant prior to returning to independence in 2024.

He will take on his new role from 1 March and will report to AEG president and CEO of Europe and Asia-Pacific Adam Wilkes.

“Having been lucky enough to work as AEG’s partner since 2006, I’ve come to see them as family—an inspirational and like-minded partner who have played a pivotal role in my career,” says Osmundsvaag, “After nearly two decades it feels both natural and exhilarating to engage on this new chapter together. I look forward to assembling the very best team of people I’ve encountered in my 25 years in promoting, blending seasoned expertise with fresh energy to create a dynamic, experienced and energetic team to take on the future together.”

“Peer brings a wealth of unparalleled experience to this new position and regional office”

Osmundsvaag began his career in 1989 as a DJ and party promoter, before switching to concert promotion and founding Atomic Soul in Norway in 2001. While at Atomic Soul, he worked with international acts as Eminem, Prince, Robbie Williams, Justin Bieber, Rammstein, Lana Del Rey, Jerry Seinfeld, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia, Aviici, Sam Smith and Jamie XX, among others.

“Peer brings a wealth of unparalleled experience to this new position and regional office,” adds Wilkes. “As AEG Presents continues to focus on global expansion at such an exciting time for live music and events, this marks an important next step for our European business. Having Peer on board to further build our company presence in Scandinavia enables us to better serve artists and audiences across the region. I’m excited for what’s to come.”

In 2007, Osmundsvaag co-founded and co-booked Norway’s Hove Festival in addition to booking club Quart in the late 90s.
He also founded Oslo’s inner-city festival Piknik i Parken (PiPFest) in 2014, and in 2017 was awarded Oslo’s Culture Prize by the city’s mayor for contributions in establishing Oslo as one of the world’s leading concert cities.

He oversaw the two largest ticketed live music events in Norway’s history – Eminem at Oslo’s Voldslokka, which drew 55,000 people in 2018, and Rammstein, who pulled 60,000 fans to Bjerke Travbane horse track in 2022.

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Norway’s largest multi-purpose indoor arena has unveiled several improvements to enhance the concert experience at the venue.

The newly renamed Unity Arena (formerly Telenor Arena) in Fornebu can now be adapted for concerts from 5,000 to 25,000 visitors and can be divided into three sizes.

The smallest box can hold 5,000-10,000 attendees, the middle bowl can hold 10,000-16,000, and the largest arena can house between 16,000-25,000.

Sound improvements have also been made by Vanguardia, a leading company in arena acoustics whose clients include the Sphere in Las Vegas.

“Extensive 3D acoustic testing has been completed, along with a detailed modelling of the arena,” says Jim Griffiths, director of Vanguardia.

“This gives a concrete overview of improvements to the sound quality during concerts in all stage configurations. In addition, a detailed sound guide will be available to help the production’s sound configuration, so that the sound image is as optimal as possible.”

Other improvements include expanded capacity in the bars and kiosks, a new and wider food menu and an extended Premium offering.

“With the measures that have been taken in the arena, we look forward to an exciting time with many and varied concerts”

The improvements come ahead of a busy 2025 for the venue, which includes concerts from Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter and One Republic.

Unity will also host shows transferred from Oslo’s Spektrum Arena when it closes for renovations and a 14-month rebuild next summer.

“With the measures that have been taken in the arena, we look forward to an exciting time with many and varied concerts at Unity Arena,” says head promoter of Live Nation Norway, Martin Nielsen. “We are confident that the steps taken with the scaling, the soundscape and the catering will make the arena perfect for smaller concerts as well.”

The improvements come ahead of a massive transformation for the venue, which will see it close at the end of 2026 and reopen in 2029 as a new, “more compact” venue, created at the heart of a new urban centre featuring urban spaces; a cinema; cultural and catering facilities; hotels; and other activities.

The new arena project is being delivered in partnership with Oak View Group.

“OVG are very pleased to collaborate with the team at Unity Arena,” says president of OVG International, Jessica Koravos.

“The aim is to make the experience for the fans even better, now that they plan to welcome more guests than ever. OVG will support the delivery of successful events at the arena. We look forward to a hectic 2025 with many top international artists at Unity Arena.”

Unity Arena opened in 2009, with AC/DC becoming the first band to perform there. Since then, there have been an average of eight concerts per year from artists including The Rolling Stones, Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Beyoncé, OneDirection, Madonna, Lady GaGa, Foo Fighters, Bruce Springsteen, Iron Maiden, Roger Waters and Jay Z.

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IQ presents the second part of our Norway market report, where we dig into their expansive festival sector and how professionals work around a lack of venues. Catch up on part one here.

Festivals
The extreme geographical disconnection between Norwegian cities is the secret behind the appeal of the country’s festivals, of which there are said to be around 400, many of them performing an important regional function.

“The festival market is huge in relation to the size of the country,” says Osmundsvaag. “There’s so many, and that goes back to the geography of Norway. You don’t just hop in your car and go to an event that is 100 or 200 miles away, because in Norway that’s eight hours with the fjords and the mountains. So, there’s a lot more regional festivals, because a lot of those regions are quite insular.”

A strong example of such a festival is the not-for-profit Parkenfestivalen in Bødo, high up on Norway’s west coast, just inside the Arctic Circle, which this year mixed Keane, Pixies, Sundfør, The Cardigans, and Detroit rapper Danny Brown with national and very local artists. As enticing as the bill sounds, festival manager Gøran Aamodt says the audience is mostly drawn from the surrounding region.

“Almost 90% [of the audience] live in Bodø, and the people travelling to the festival are often people coming back to their hometown to meet old friends and sing along to well-known songs. It ́s a tradition for most people. And to have a sold-out 10,500-capacity festival in a town with 50,000 people is quite special.”

In its own way, Bodø is typical of the industrious, self-entertaining rural Norwegian city, with the Bodø Jazz Open in February, Opptur for Gen Zs in July, the classical Nordland Musikkfestuke in August, and Parken in August – as well as several club venues and a concert house. Predictably, however, while demand for events remains strong, the financial balancing act this year has been a tough one.

“You can see the demographic of the place changing during these festivals to reflect the particular subculture”

“All cities from 10,000 and upwards have their own festival,” says Aamodt. “But Parken is a special case. We sell out the day we release our tickets – 10,500 festival passes in total. So, all in all, we had a good year in terms of selling tickets, but the costs have increased so much that even with a sold-out festival, we are depending on good weather to make it work.”

Pstereo in Trondheim is another key festival clinging hard to its local identity, which general manager Eirik Brevik summarises as local history, food, culture, art, and the constant emergence of young, local artists.

“Pstereo is one of the few remaining independent festivals of its size in Norway and is certainly feeling the market’s changes,” he says. “Faced with rising costs, currency fluctuations, and increasing competition from more commercial festivals, we’ve chosen to remain true to our identity. 2024 has been a particularly good year for us, and we see that as a validation that staying close to our roots is the right approach.”

Given the challenges of travel, Norway’s larger cities – specifically Oslo, Bergen, and Trondheim – are typically the only ones that can sustain more specialist festivals, but the compact size of even these larger local markets offers an opportunity for immersive city events.

“It can make for very interesting festivals,” says Egenes. “You go to Bergen for Beyond The Gates if you are into extreme metal or Ekko if you like electronic music, and they bring talent from all over the world to quite a small city. You can see the demographic of the place changing during these festivals to reflect the particular subculture.”

Norway has for decades maintained a persistently thriving metal scene – particularly black and extreme, including Gorgoroth, Dimmu Borgir, Emperor, and the notorious Mayhem.

“We always try to deliver a little bit more than people expect, but we need to do that in a smart way”

Accordingly, Tons of Rock in Oslo, first staged in 2014 and acquired by Live Nation in 2019, has consistently beefed up in recent years to assume the mantle of Norway’s biggest festival, with a heavyweight lineup to match. Metallica, Tool, Judas Priest, Greta Van Fleet, and ZZ Top this year topped a bill that spanned the rock and metal spectrum, while domestic acts on the bill included Seigmen, Abbath, Satyricon, and rising stars Nova Twins and Skynd.

“It was a new milestone this year, we sold out almost all four days, almost 35,000 each day, so that’s 140,000 tickets,” says Nielsen. “And then you always have a few more when it comes to volunteers and partner tickets and guest artist tickets, comps, so I would guess that it was close to 150,000. There’s no festival close to it in Norway and definitely a new Norwegian record.”

Sky Festivals, part of Sky Agency, remains the biggest festival owner in Norway with ten events, including Oslo’s Findings (with Live Nation), the 18,000-cap Festningen in Trondheim, 12,000-cap Utopia in Stavanger, 10,000-cap Landstreff Fredriksten in Halden, and the 15,000-cap IDYLL in Fredrikstad.

“We feel lucky, because we have the most popular festivals in each city, so we are in a good position,” says Opsahl. Nonetheless, he says the year has been one of ups and downs as costs rose and the marketplace lost a little of its ticket-buying enthusiasm.

Sky’s 2021 acquisition, Stavernfestivalen, in the southern city of Larvik has historically drawn 80,000 over three days. But the festival was a four-dayer this year, and even with Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Burna Boy, and others on board, Opsahl concedes it was a day too many in a summer that saw a downturn in demand after two booming post-Covid years

“We made the decision to add a day quite early – even before the festival in 2023,” says Opsahl. “And putting an extra day in the market is something we wouldn’t do if we did it over again.”
Like many other festival promoters, he describes a careful balancing act between quality events and likely revenues, risk, and reward, and he expects 2025 to be every bit as challenging as 2024.

“We always try to deliver a little bit more than people expect, but we need to do that in a smart way; to look at everything, from marketing to partners to budgets and production, and make sure everything we do is cost-efficient,” he says. “We need to start a little bit from the beginning in some places, in terms of what should we put on and how much should we pay for artists. But we still need to make good events that people are happy with and want to come back again next year.”

“The festival model is tailored for this expansive country”

All Things Live’s festivals include Verket, Drøbakfestivalen, Hvalstrandfestivalen, Sarpsborgfestivalen, Lillehammer Live, and Haikjeften, with the aim of creating synergies across the network of events.

“The festival model is tailored for this expansive country,” says Mølleskog. “We collaborate with a team of local stakeholders and strong regional partners in each location to establish unique, community-focused festivals. However, all booking, programming, marketing, and project management are handled by our team. These festivals stimulate local business and help build enduring regional brands across the country.” She adds that All Things Live is open to new launches and collaborations.

A personal favourite among the group’s local festivals is Haikjeften (Shark Jaw) in Narvik, far up in the fjords, Mølleskog notes. “It’s a medium-sized festival that HES has built up, and the whole city gets involved, and it sells out months ahead every year. It creates a great atmosphere in the whole city.”

OverOslo, which takes place at Grefsenkollen, looking down on Oslo from the east, has steadily grown in the past few years, and now draws 8,000 a day over four days. That makes it one of Norway’s bigger crowd-pullers in terms of unique visitors, but it maintains its appeal as a boutique festival, both deliberately and as a consequence of its location.

“We are located on a hilltop, there’s one way up and down, so we do have some issues with big productions and the logistics around that, which limits us a bit,” says co-founder Lars Petter Fosdahl. Nonetheless, the Pet Shop Boys featured in 2022, Van Morrison and Sophie Ellis-Bextor in ’23, Jungle and Melanie C this year, even as the festival maintains an 80:20 split between Scandinavian and broader international names.

“The general development of the industry in Norway is that there aren’t too many indie festivals left that haven’t been bought up by international organisers,” says Fosdahl, who adds that he has no intention of selling out. “It has really been our baby since the beginning, so I think everyone involved here feels a special connection to what we have built.”

“While Oslo may feel more urban and international, Trondheim offers a stronger local identity”

PiPfest’s most recent edition took place in June, headed by Stormzy, Massive Attack, Tom Odell, and L’Impératrice. Its 8,000 capacity will rise to 12,000 next year, with the addition of a third stage. And while there is clearly demand for the right events, Osmundsvaag says promoters need to be extremely watchful as they allocate their resources.

“You have to recalibrate yourself almost on a daily basis,” he says. “And I think you have to be dynamic and proactive and just keep turning the stones and looking underneath, going, ‘Well, was that decision wise? Do we need to rethink that?’ We just need to be very aware of the environment we’re working in and just work harder, really, to bridge that gap of cost versus income.”

Splashing on mainstream talent, he suggests, increasingly looks like a risky and unreliable route to success. “Relying just on the headliners to define you is obviously the easy way out,” he says. “I’m focusing more and more on communicating that if you come to my event, you’re going to have a really good day, taste some really good food, meet some really interesting people, see some really good bands – maybe some bands you didn’t even know existed.”

Key Norwegian industry events include by:Larm in Oslo and the Trondheim Calling showcase festival, of which Brevik was until recently the CEO. “Trondheim Calling is, in my opinion, the showcase festival in Norway that best reflects the Norwegian market,” he says.

“Trondheim is a modern, vibrant student city, which gives the city a youthful and energetic atmosphere. While Oslo may feel more urban and international, Trondheim offers a stronger local identity, closely connected to nature. The fjords, mountains, and its thriving tech scene give the city a distinct role in the broader Norwegian context.”

“We also still miss a national stadium for concerts and events, and that’s what the big acts request these days”

Venues
It is hard to find anyone who is fully satisfied with Norway’s range of larger venues, amid grumbles about the shortage of available outdoor spaces and the lack of options in Oslo between club and arena level.

Oslo’s Spektrum Arena, Norway’s major arena for visiting and domestic artists, is closing for renovations and a 14-month rebuild next summer. Shows will be shifted to the 25,000-cap Unity Arena, previously the Telenor Arena, with Broiler, Simply Red, Billie Eilish, and The Offspring all booked in for 2025, amid horse shows and handball championships.

“It’s a larger arena but not as centrally located, so it will be very interesting to see how this will impact arena touring in Norway,” says Pride at FKP.

Given the emphasis on blockbuster outdoor events, there is an ongoing demand for public spaces, which the city of Oslo is not always willing to indulge.

“There is a big issue in Oslo when it comes to concerts not getting enough focus,” says Nielsen. “We almost had to beg them to get a second night at Voldsløkka to do Bruce Springsteen last year. There are two or three promoters waiting on answers for an outdoor venue where you can hold 15 to 20,000 people, and there’s currently no options. We also still miss a national stadium for concerts and events, and that’s what the big acts request these days. So yeah, it’s a bit tough.”

Among the possibilities is Bjerke Travbane in northeastern Oslo – the harness-racing track where Rammstein played Norway’s biggest show. “The city has gone in with some money now to facilitate asphalt, power etc, trying to make that into a workable concert arena for promoters. We have to go through the costs again when everything is finalised, but so far, I see it as a venue for acts planning to sell at least 30,000 tickets or more.”

“There’s so much going on – almost too much”

Osmundsvaag prides himself on his ability to scope out untried new sites. “I’ve always enjoyed finding new parks and new areas,” he says. “I’ve just found a new one, actually, this summer [Torshovdalen, site of the Klovner I Kamp show]. It actually amazes me that people can’t be bothered to do the work; they just complain there’s nowhere to put on shows. Well, put the hours in, go and find an opportunity.”

He goes to his window and points to the city park, Sofienbergparken, across the road from his office. “I’m actually sat right next to a park now where everyone told me, ‘No, that’s never going to work,’ and that’s where we do PiPfest. You can see where I got the council to put the land power in.”

It is not only in Oslo that promoters are calling for more options for bigger shows, especially given the distinctly seasonal appeal of outdoor areas. Springsteen’s Bergen show was the first to be staged at the city’s cargo port, known fairly literally as Dokken.

“We have a great open-air arena of up to 23,000 cap at Bergenhus Fortress in the city centre – we are the licence holder,” Bergen Live managing director Frank Nes told IQ’s forthcoming Global Promoters Report. “But the need for bigger capacities, and a modern indoor arena, is definitely a major factor if we are to be able to compete with other cities.”

At club level, things are typically pretty good in larger Norwegian cities, but Oslo is particularly blessed. Auditorium AS operates three key venues – the 1,300-cap Rockefeller, the smaller 500-cap basement room John Dee, and the 1,750-cap Sentrum Scene, staging scores of Norwegian and international shows.

Formerly one of the oldest cinemas in Europe, the 117-year-old Parkteatret is now a 500-capacity music venue with a constant stream of local and international gigs. By:Larm uses venues including the 400-cap Blå, the smaller Himmel room upstairs, 150-cap dive bar Revolver, and the 950-cap Vulkan Arena.

“If you go to concerts between 100 and 500 capacity in Oslo, it’s fantastic,” says Egenes. “There’s so much going on – almost too much.”

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The Covid effect has been credited for triggering a boom in the popularity of domestic acts in markets around Europe.

In one of the more positive legacies of the pandemic, homegrown talent stepped up to fill the void left by international artists, who were taken out of the touring equation for the best part of two years. And more than two years since the world opened up again, the shift looks to be sticking.

The trend is no more pronounced than in Scandinavia, where Swedish rapper Ant Wan performed the biggest hip-hop concert in the country’s history last month after selling in the region of 40,000 tickets for his Stockholm’s Tele2 Arena gig, promoted by FKP Scorpio Sweden.

Meanwhile, David Maloney of All Things Live Sweden pointed to the “amazing business” of the company’s tours with local acts such as Veronica Maggio, HammerFall and Evergrey.

“The domestic market in Sweden now is bigger than it’s ever been,” Maloney recently told IQ. “That’s something we are really concentrating on now.”

“We’ve seen a big change with Danish acts playing bigger venues than they used to”

In neighbouring Norway, recent All Things Live (ATL) shows have included Girl In Red and Sundfør at Oslo’s Spektrum – as well as 30th anniversary-celebrating Klovner I Kamp in Torshovdalen park in Oslo in August.

“Domestic artists are doing very well,” said ATL Group CEO Gry Mølleskog. “We have just sold 75,000 tickets for Åge Aleksandersen in Trondheim [at Lerkendal Stadion] next year. He is a legend – the whole of Norway loves him so much, and he is also playing big outdoor shows in several cities, including Oslo [Voldsløkka] and Bergen [Bergenhus Fortress].”

Mølleskog also highlights solo artists Ingebjørg Bratland and Odd Nordstoga, who joined forces again to play 120 concerts in Norway in the past year and have announced a Christmas tour, and veteran Sámi singer Mari Boine.

Elsewhere in Denmark, Brian Nielsen, CEO of DTD Group hailed the ascent of Aarhus-born Tobias Rahim, who topped Denmark’s singles charts for nearly 40 weeks with his second album, as “an Ed Sheeran-type story”. Rahim went on to headline Copenhagen’s 17,000-cap Royal Arena and land prominent slots at key Danish festivals Tinderbox, NorthSide and Roskilde.

“As a new artist, he went straight to arenas from airplay,” Nielsen told IQ. “With the way the audience is finding new music, primarily via streaming, the movement is so much faster. We’ve seen a big change with Danish acts playing bigger venues than they used to, and Tobias is a really strong example.”

“I don’t know if that hailed out of Covid, but the local scene is stronger than ever”

The fresh wave of Danish talent also includes artists such as D1MA, Andreas Odbjerg, Drew Sycamore, Blæst, and rappers including Gobs, TopGunn, and Lamin.

“It’s golden days for Danish artists coming up,” added smash!bang!pow! senior promoter Xenia Grigat. “I don’t know if that hailed out of Covid, but the local scene is stronger than ever. It doesn’t mean there isn’t room for international artists, but if you look at the top 20 tracks on radio or in the charts, it will probably be 80% Danish artists. And, of course, there is a high demand from festivals for those artists, but it also means that for [up and coming] Danish acts, there is a huge focus on trying to find the next big thing.”

In addition, Italian musician Gabry Ponte will become the first DJ to headline Milan’s 80,000-cap San Siro Stadium in June next year, with other domestic stadium artists including Vasco Rossi, Marco Mengoni, Elisa and Negramaro.

Spain has also produced homegrown stadium headliners such as Dellafuente, Aitana and Lola Índigo and Estopa, while the country’s best-selling tours last year were all by Spanish artists: Manuel Carrasco (365,652 tickets sold), Melendi (308,258) and Joaquín Sabina (253,809 tickets).

“Traditionally, promoters used to hire much more international artists, specifically Anglo-Saxon ones,” Concert Studio’s Carlos Pérez told IQ last year. “However, after the pandemic, the work of national artists is highly valued. In fact, they occupy a large part of the lineups of our festivals.”

“They are selling pretty well – like, 80% sold out in some cases”

Speaking earlier this year, Sara Kordek, creative director of Poland’s Good Taste Production, noted the company had 30 arena shows announced for domestic acts like Mrozu, Daria Zawiałow, Kwiat Jabłoni, and Ralph Kaminski.

“Last year, we were doing club tours with these artists, and then we put them on our Summer Sounds project, our travelling festival, and now we have announced arena tours for spring, and they are selling pretty well – like, 80% sold out in some cases,” said Kordek.

In Germany, Schlager singer Roland Kaiser drew more than 400,000 visitors to his 2024 shows, selling out 20 concerts including stadium shows in Leipzig, Cologne, Rostock and Hanover, while hip-hop stars such as Luciano, Apache 207, Kontra K and Bushido have risen to arena level.

Luciano will tour arenas in Cologne, Hanover, Hamburg, Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Berlin in late 2025, whereas Apache 207 concluded a 24-date tour of Germany, Austria and Switzerland earlier this year, hitting the biggest German arenas, typically for two to three nights each.

Pashanim, Ski Aggu, Luciano, and Apache 207 have all scored number one singles in Germany this year, while Luciano and Alligatoah have both released chart-topping albums.

“A lot of German hip-hop artists already have very good fanbases and a good market playing in Germany, Austria and Switzerland”

Promoters including DreamHaus, All Artists Agency, and Landstreicher Booking are among those to have nurtured the genre as it has exploded over the past decade, with DEAG going as far as to spin off its hip-hop booking division into a standalone brand called District Live. Led by Alexander Handwerker, it focuses on booking for up-and-coming hip-hop talent, and sold 70,000 tickets in its first year.

“Germany is also a very big market in itself,” added Neus López, head of export at German music funding institution Initiative Musik. “So a lot of German hip-hop artists already have very good fanbases and a good market playing in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.”

And French hip-hop acts are now selling tickets in France on a par with some of the biggest international acts. Local promoters suggest the country is the second-biggest market for hip-hop in the world after the US, driven by an especially vibrant local rap scene.

The domestic artist boom has been charted by IQ‘s regular market reports. Subscribers can read our latest edition, which focuses on Norway, here.

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Bergen boy Kygo’s hour-long set to launch his fifth album this summer – a live performance on a dizzying outcrop of rock in front of the Hardangerfjord, with a helicopter-delivered Steinway, Sigrid, and a string section – distilled a certain stereotypical picture of Norway: heart-stopping scenery, healthy-looking people, yearning songcraft, generous budgets.

If the first three of those are dependably true, the last is a bit more moot these days. Norway has always had plenty of spending power, its oil wealth making it one of the wealthier countries in the world. But in recent years, the macroeconomic pendulum has swung the other way. The Norwegian krone is at a historic low in 2024, effectively running at a 30% discount compared to a decade ago.

That’s good news for tourists but bad news for promoters, who have traditionally enticed a deluxe range of talent to a gloriously pretty but out-of-the-way northern European country of around 5.5m people.

“Things are changing in the Nordics, and the discrepancy between the currencies is quite visible,” says Erik Egenes, acting general manager of Oslo’s by:Larm festival and conference. “The Danish krone is very strong compared to the Swedish [krone] and especially the Norwegian [krone]. It is not easy to book international acts when the costs are 20% higher compared to last year.”

The odd part of Norway’s predicament is that its economy remains strong. But with nervous global investors seeking bigger, safer currencies, local interest rates low, and oil losing ground against renewable energy, the krone doesn’t buy as much talent as it once did – especially given that Norway isn’t necessarily a useful stop on the way to anywhere else.

“The festivals and the events that attract a younger audience were struggling this year”

“Some of the big acts are only doing one city in Scandinavia now,” says Egenes. “And even in the 1,000-cap venues, a lot of touring acts can’t justify coming for the fees Oslo provides.”

Like almost any market you might name, the big acts remain more popular than ever on Norway’s larger stages – hence shows such as Bruce Springsteen’s visit to Bergen in July (to follow two huge Oslo shows the summer before) and Ed Sheeran’s two-night stand at Oslo’s Ullevaal Stadion next year, which is due to set a new stadium record, with 36,000 fans signed up for each night.

Meanwhile, festivals such as Superstruct’s Øya, Live Nation’s Tons of Rock, and the independent OverOslo, while not immune from painful costs, were among the winners in a country of many, many festivals.

Yet, there is a frustrating unpredictability about much of the market that promoters elsewhere will recognise. “The big acts sell the tickets, no matter what time of year or where you are, but the festivals and the events that attract a younger audience were struggling this year,” says Live Nation Norway managing director Martin Nielsen.

“A lot of the festivals did much worse than they have previously done.”

“Norwegian artists were almost seen as second-class filler, just to fill the gaps between international acts, and that’s changed”

One consequence is the emergence of a wave of Norwegian talent that can now be found selling out arenas that were almost exclusively reserved for international acts no more than a decade ago.

Local dance-pop giant Kygo is comfortably Norway’s biggest star, and though he’ll be at the Unity Arena near Oslo and Trondheim Spektrum in November, he’ll fill any Norwegian venue having previously sold out the Ullevaal in 2022.

Meanwhile, Alan Walker, Girl In Red, Aurora, Sigrid, and the evergreen A-ha all wield significant international and domestic clout, while Susanne Sundfør, merely a critical favourite abroad, has latterly become a festival and arena headliner at home, with two shows at Spektrum in September.

“Norwegian artists were almost seen as second-class filler, just to fill the gaps between international acts, and that’s changed,” says long-serving promoter Peer Osmundsvaag, founder of PiPfest, formerly of Atomic Soul and the local branch of All Things Live.

“The quality has improved, the management has improved, they’ve become more professionalised, and they’re delivering really good shows.”

Where Norway is concerned, while it may be small, it isn’t necessarily straightforward

While international eyes generally turn to Oslo, in reality, Norway is a remarkably geographically diffuse place, and cities such as Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger, and Tromsø all operate as markets – and talent hubs – in their own right, given their remoteness from the capital and from each other.

“I’m in Bergen right now, which is a seven-hour drive from Oslo,” says Egenes. “Then you have Trondheim, which is a seven-hour drive in a different direction, and Stavanger, which is eight hours in another direction.”

Tromsø in the far north, meanwhile, is further from Oslo than Oslo is from Paris. So, where Norway is concerned, while it may be small, it isn’t necessarily straightforward.

Promoters
Oslo’s promoting lineup holds few surprises for observers of the Scandinavian – or broader European – business, with Live Nation, FKP Scorpio, All Things Live, and Øya owner Superstruct all much in evidence, alongside a smattering of independents.

Live Nation Norway brings a steady lineup of international stars, as well as festivals including Tons of Rock and Neon in Trondheim. In 2020, it acquired Bergen Live, which has consistently drawn megastars to the second city among the fjords of western Norway, its visitors including The Stones, Metallica, and Coldplay, in addition to Springsteen this summer.

“People’s margins are still as bad as they were this year; there’s no positive signs from the banks or any better interest rates”

“That was the biggest show in the history of the western part of Norway,” says Nielsen. “We had 45,000, and Bergen’s not a big city – about 290,000 people, 470,000 in the broader region. A lot of people travelled in, but still, that’s a big one.”

Nielsen isn’t sure whether the market just had a cold in 2024, or something more long-lasting, but he says the signs for next year are currently heartening.

“We will do well in ’25 – that’s my feeling,” he says. “So far, for next year, we’ve gone out with Justin Timberlake, which is a big name, and I’ve placed him in Trondheim [at the EC Dahls Arena], where he’s never been, and it’s selling very well.

“I’ve booked Imagine Dragons for Neon Festival, which is obviously the biggest headliner Neon has had, and it’s the only festival that Imagine Dragons is doing on their European tour, so not unexpectedly, that’s also doing quite well. We have gone on sale with a lot of shows recently and almost all have performed well or very well. Teddy Swims for example played Rockefeller (1,300-cap) in May this year, and now he has sold out Oslo Spektrum for his show in February, which is nothing but amazing.

“People’s margins are still as bad as they were this year; there’s no positive signs from the banks or any better interest rates. So maybe it’s because the summer is over, and people are happy to look forward to something else, but it’s just a feeling I’ve got, from the announcements we’ve had, that ’25 is going to be good.”

“Domestic artists are doing very well”

All Things Live Norway, launched on the foundations of Friction and Atomic Soul Booking at the time of the initial Waterland-backed roll-up in 2018, has continued to bulk up in the ensuing years. It added Bergen-based management, booking, and promoting group Stageway in 2022 and acquired Oslo-based festival specialist HES last year.

Like others, Gry Mølleskog, CEO of both the group and its Norway operation, notes the strength and diversity of Norwegian artists in today’s market. On top of incomers such as Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds at Spektrum, recent All Things Live shows have included Girl In Red and Sundfør at the same arena – as well as 30th anniversary-celebrating local hip-hoppers Klovner I Kamp in the hilly Torshovdalen park in Oslo in August.

“Domestic artists are doing very well,” says Mølleskog. “We have just sold 75,000 tickets for Åge Aleksandersen in Trondheim [at Lerkendal Stadion] next year. He is a legend – the whole of Norway loves him so much, and he is also playing big outdoor shows in several cities, including Oslo [Voldsløkka] and Bergen [Bergenhus Fortress].

“Two popular solo artists, Ingebjørg Bratland and Odd Nordstoga, have also joined forces again and played 120 concerts in Norway in the past year. They have just announced a Christmas tour, which is also selling out.

“And Mari Boine – she is a Sámi singer, she is 67 years old, and people are just amazed by her voice. She has toured all over Norway this year, and she had three shows at the Opera House in Oslo in October. She is really incredible.”

“We see [our independence] as a little bit of an advantage”

FKP Scorpio, established in Norway in 2018 – and integrating Oslo-based booking agency Nordic Live in 2020 – has plenty of shows on the schedule, ranging from Nils Frahm and Gabrielle at Spektrum and Hans Zimmer at the Unity Arena in 2026 to numerous smaller local and international acts. But Sheeran next summer represents a peak.

“Ticket sales have been fantastic and setting new records at Ullevaal Stadium,” Stian Pride, the company’s head promoter in Norway, tells IQ’s forthcoming Global Promoters Report. “And it’s definitely our high-water mark, too – we’re extremely grateful to get the opportunity to present this singular artist in Norway.”

In such a consolidated environment, big-hitting independent promoters are rare, though one of those, Sky Agency – which balances artist shows with a bulging festival portfolio, as well as a management stable and a label – isn’t sure that’s a drawback.

“We see [our independence] as a little bit of an advantage,” says Trond Opsahl, Sky Agency CEO and co-founder. “We own our own company, and we work 24-7 to make it a success. If it goes the wrong way, it’s our own money, so we really need to be on top of it.”

Opsahl was speaking a day or two after a local Sky act, production and DJ duo Broiler, had sold out the Unity Arena for next March. “25,000 tickets in less than eight minutes,” says Opsahl. “We sold out Spektrum earlier this year in three minutes – that’s 10,000 tickets – so we knew they were really popular, but you never quite know how things are going to go.”

With All Things Live, Peer Osmundsvaag oversaw the two largest ticketed live music events in Norway’s history – Eminem at Oslo’s Voldsløkka, which drew 55,000 people in 2018, and Rammstein, who pulled 60,000 fans to Bjerke Travbane horse track in 2022.

He has been independent again since leaving ATL in July, and frankly recommends it, though he is keeping quiet about future plans beyond PiPfest. “Independence should almost be something that everyone in the industry has to do every three years for six months,” he says. “Being on the outside, being in the trenches, does sharpen the senses and makes you search a little harder for the truth, be it ticket pricing or just questioning the things you would usually do.”

Part two of the Norway market report will be published in the coming days.

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IQ 131, the latest issue of the international live music industry’s leading magazine, is available to read online now.

The November issue marks our first annual indie issue, celebrating the companies forging their own path in today’s live music business.

This edition launches the Indie Champions 2024 list (revealed tomorrow on IQ), examines the realities of running an indie company, and celebrates the anniversaries of Earth Agency and DHP’s George Akins.

Elsewhere, we bid farewell to the 10th edition of the International Festival Forum (IFF) and welcome you aboard the 37th instalment of the International Live Music Conference (aka ILM-Sea).

Meanwhile, this issue spotlights the live music business in Paris and Norway, and inspects the growing demand for festive family fun.

For this edition’s columns, Natasha Gregory (Mother Artists) examines the different ways in which people gauge success and Rob Sealy (Openstage) encourages artists to utilise data in order to make sure fans are not left disappointed during ticket on-sales.

A selection of magazine content will appear online in the next four weeks but to ensure your fix of essential live music industry features, opinion and analysis, click here to subscribe to IQ – or check out what you’re missing out on with the limited preview below:

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Norway’s Øya Festival has confirmed that Jack White will replace Queens of the Stone Age as headliner of its 25th anniversary edition.

QOTSA have cancelled a further slate of European festival dates due to frontman Josh Homme requiring “continued medical care” at home in the US.

As well as Øya (9 August), the band have pulled out of slots at Sweden’s Way Out West (8 August), Denmark’s Syd for Solen (10 August), Caberet Vert in France (15 August), Lowlands in the Netherlands (16 August), Belgium’s Pukkelpop (18 August) and Portugal’s Villar de Mouros.

“Due to continued medical care, it is under doctors’ orders that Josh Homme remain in their care in the United States,” says a statement posted on social media. “The Homme family and QOTSA are so grateful for the outpouring of well wishes and kind understanding during this time.”

The rock group previously cancelled a run of July festival dates earlier this month after announcing Homme needed to “return to the United States immediately for emergency surgery”.

Air will replace The Smile, who cancelled their August European tour after multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood was hospitalised

Jack White will headline the Friday night of Oslo-based Øya, which has also revealed that Air will replace The Smile on the bill on the same day. The French electronic music duo will play their debut album Moon Safari in full.

The Smile were also recently forced to cancel their August European tour dates after multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood was hospitalised with an infection.

Set for 6-10 August, Øya will also be headlined by PJ Harvey and Pulp, Janelle Monáe and Gabrielle. Other names performing include The Kills, Vince Staples, The National, Slowdive, Big Thief, Arca, Sampha and Idles.

Organisers say this year’s festival is close to selling out, with fewer than 1,000 day tickets remaining for Friday and 400 for Saturday, while week passes are already sold out.

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Ed Sheeran has added extra tour dates to his 2025 European +–=÷× (Mathematics) Tour after selling more than 600,000 tickets in an hour.

Due to demand, promoter FKP Scorpio has announced second nights in Germany at Stuttgart’s MHP Arena (28 June), Volksparkstadion in Hamburg (7 July) and Merkur Spiel-Arena, Dusseldorf (6 September), as well as in Norway at Oslo’s Ullevaal Stadion (27 July), in Belgium at Antwerp’s Middenvijver Park (7 August) and in Sweden at Strawberry Arena, Stockholm.

Sheeran will set a new concert attendance record with his Norway gigs, with 36,000 fans set to flock to the stadium per night. It has previously hosted up to 31,000 fans. FKP Scorpio Norway’s Tim Salvesen says that organisers have been “overwhelmed” by the response since come since last Friday’s announcement.

“In collaboration with Ed Sheeran’s team and with good help from Ullevaal Stadium, we are really happy to be able to put on another concert next summer,” Salvesen tells VartOslo.

Sheeran will also perform a second show in Zurich at Stadion Letzigrund on 3 August in cooperation with All Blues/TAKK, and a third date at Copenhagen’s Øresundsparken in Denmark on 31 August with Smash!Bang!Pow!

The Mathematics Tour was the seventh highest-grossing tour of 2023, according to Pollstar

Held in support of the singer-songwriter’s = (2021) and – (2023) albums, the 131-date tour launched in Ireland at Croke Park, Dublin in April 2022. The trek was the seventh highest-grossing tour of 2023, according to Pollstar, garnering $268 million from 2.5 million attendees.

“In 2025, Mathematics Tour comes to an end,” said Sheeran in an Instagram post last week. “Gonna be hitting most of the other places we haven’t been to yet, but the first dates to go up will be the rest of Europe, more to follow.”

Local independent promoters recently spoke to IQ about how they are breaking ground in their markets with record ticket sales for Sheeran’s 2024 European dates.

Sheeran is represented by agents Marty Diamond and Ash Lewis at Wasserman for US and Canada, and Jon Ollier at One Finiix Live for the rest of the world.

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Norwegian festival Tons of Rock has smashed its attendance record, welcoming 150,000 visitors to last week’s instalment.

This marks a 50% increase from the previous record year 2023 and sees the festival become the largest in Norway, according to the organisers.

The 10th edition of Tons of Rock drew visitors from over 80 countries to Ekebergsletta park in Oslo between 26–29 June.

Metallica, Tool, Judas Priest, ZZ Top and Greta Van Fleet headlined the Live Nation Norway-promoted event, while domestic acts on the bill included Seigmen, Abbath, Satyricon and rising stars like Nova Twins & Skynd.

“This was a truly magic moment that summarised the historical weekend in Oslo”

“The feedback from the artists themselves was overwhelming as they loved the unique and beautiful festival site in Oslo,” says Tons of Rock general manager Jarle Kvåle.

“The backstage ambience was special in the sense of unity and passion for music. This was manifested during the brilliant Turnstile performance when James Hetfield and Rob Halford were rocking out on the side stage enjoying the new blood of rock and roll. This was a truly magic moment that summarised the historical weekend in Oslo, underlining the festival slogan.”

Tons of Rock was acquired by Live Nation Norway in 2019 following a longstanding partnership. Since the first edition, they have worked together to secure acts including Slayer, Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper, Ghost and Five Finger Death Punch, among others.

That same year, the rock and metal festival moved from its home of Fredriksten Fortress in Halden to Ekebergsletta in Oslo in order to increase the capacity.

Tons of Rock was the first Norwegian event to cancel its 2021 edition due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It did, however, receive NOK 36.1 million (€3.1m) in compensation from the Norwegian government’s scheme for organisers and subcontractors in the cultural sector.

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